Mad Max arrived in 1979 after nearly two decades of post-apocalyptic fare had saturated the B-movie market thanks to Roger Corman and countless others like him.
And by the end, though he will have killed off everyone whom the film’s grim morality deems deserving, he will have lost everything he holds dear in the process. Max seems to represent the last human domino that needs to fall before the apocalypse takes over completely. He’s a man alone, an avenging equalizer pitted against a sadistic band of punks. Created to support local authorities and take down an insurgency of marauding gangs, MFP officers have a high mortality rate, save for the fresh-faced title character, played by a young Mel Gibson in his second role. Crime and lawlessness run rampant, and Australia’s government responds by initiating the Main Force Patrol (MFP), a band of heavy-gunner cops in souped-up Interceptor cars. After an unexplained energy crisis, signs of major societal descent reach the Outback first, and more populated areas such as cities will surely follow. Civilization retains some semblance of its former self, and all humanity has not yet been lost. It’s too soon to call the setting a post-apocalyptic wasteland. George Miller’s Mad Max takes place at the cusp of oblivion.